Hispanic employment rises and falls with construction, study finds
By JENALIA MORENO
Houston Chronicle Copyright 2008

The unemployment rate for Hispanics is nearly two percentage points higher than for non-Latinos, the Pew Hispanic Center said in a study released today, in what its researchers called a "dramatic reversal.

"To put it bluntly, Hispanics had a rough time in the labor market in 2007," said Rakesh Kochhar, Pew Hispanic Center associate director and author of "Latino Labor Report, 2008: Construction Reverses Job Growth for Latinos."

Hispanics benefited during the building boom earlier this decade, but now the credit crunch and dip in home building are hurting them more than non-Hispanics, Pew researchers found.

"For several years, the construction sector was a mainstay for Hispanic workers, particularly immigrant workers," Kochhar said.

The Hispanic unemployment rate increased to 6.5 percent in the first quarter of this year, seasonally adjusted, compared to 4.7 percent for non-Hispanics. At the end of 2006, the Latino unemployment rate was 4.9 percent compared to 4.4 percent for non-Latinos.

For Hispanic immigrants, the unemployment rate hit 7.5 percent in the first quarter of 2008, the first time in five years that unemployment has been higher among immigrant than native-born Latinos.

Hispanic construction workers lost almost 250,000 jobs between the first quarter of last year and the same period of 2008 , the research organization said. And 221,000 of those Latinos who put down their hammers and drills were immigrants.

"They are going to be among the most vulnerable in a downturn in an industry that has led the downturn," said Kochhar, noting that many of these workers don't speak English and have little education.

Unemployment also rose for Hispanic women last year, from 5.6 percent to 7 percent, as Latinas lost jobs in manufacturing, meatpacking and the restaurant and hotel business.

The economic slowdown hasn't driven Latino immigrants out of the U.S. labor market. The percentage of working-age Latino immigrants either employed or seeking employment has remained steady, the study found. But the population of Latino immigrants age 16 and older increased less in 2006 and 2007 than in past years, the study said.

Between the first quarters of 2005 and 2006, the Latino working age immigrant population increased by 784,000. But from the first quarter of 2007 to the first quarter of this year, the Latino working age population increased 462,000.

"It could be the economic slowdown. It could be increased immigration enforcement. It could be better opportunities back home," Kochhar said.

Latinos make up 14.2 percent of the nation's labor force. More than half of working-age Latinos are immigrants. Pew estimates illegal immigrants make up 5 percent of the overall U.S. labor force and more than half hail from Mexico.

Most of the data comes from the Current Population Study, a monthly U.S. Census survey of 60,000 households.
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